Schedule, RPI should benefit Irish women

March 08, 2006|FORREST MILLER Tribune Staff Writer

Strength of schedule and how it plays into the overall RPI (ratings percentage index) is a major factor in the selection of teams for the women's NCAA basketball tournament. That fact was made clear Tuesday during a conference call with Joni Comstock, the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee Chair. Comstock is director of athletics at American University. It seems obvious that the strength of schedule will work in Notre Dame's favor when the selections, pairings and seedings are announced Monday. ESPN this week rates Notre Dame (18-11) as 28th on the RPI list and 10th in the strength of schedule rankings. When asked how many Big East teams are being considered, Comstock's answer was "everybody." Surely West Virginia's run through the Big East tournament has modified some of the earlier thinking. ESPN projects the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments each sending eight teams to the 64-team NCAA field. No other league has more. Notre Dame is projected as a No. 9 seed at Nashville against No. 8 seed George Washington (22-7). The winner would likely get one of the nation's elite teams, LSU, in the second round. LSU is paired against a No. 16 seed, Pepperdine, in the same bracket. How a team fared in its last 10 games is also a factor. Notre Dame comes in at 6-4 in that category. The Irish are 2-6 against teams with RPI rankings 1-25, 2-4 against teams in the 26-50 category, 6-0 against those in the 51-100 group, 6-1 against those in the 101-200 group and 2-0 against teams with RPIs over 201. "There are more than four teams under consideration for the four No. 1 seed slots, and there is nothing that would prevent the Atlantic Coast Conference from claiming three of those No. 1 positions," said Comstock. North Carolina, Duke and Maryland are all possibilities. The overall conference RPI has no bearing on the number of teams selected from that conference. Comstock noted that the Big Ten's RPI is down slightly from recent years. Moving the selection show from Sunday to Monday is admittedly a "calculated risk," said Comstock. How it is accepted will be determined after the season is complete. The RPI is one tool the committee uses, but "we don't use it to create matchups or to avoid them," added Comstock. "This is a year-long process and there are a lot of conference tournament games still to be played." Beginning in 2007 no team will be allowed to play a regional game at a site where it played three or more times during the regular season. But teams will still be allowed to play games at home during the first and second rounds.